On the second day of his two-day tour of Bastar district, Chief Minister Raman Singh will inaugurate the solar power plants established at the cost of Rs2.84 crore for electrification of five non-electrified villages in the insurgency-ridden district.These five villages of Bastar district namely village Pawel, Bodli, Mumalwada, Kahchenar and Tumaskoder, will avail electricity supply for the first time, officials informed.Singh will also inaugurate solar irrigation pumps placed at 28 places in the district at the cost of Rs1.27 crore, eight ashram hostels, five police stations and solar energy plants established in base camps.

The Chief Minister will perform bhumi-pujan and lay foundation of more than 250 development works worth nearly Rs296 crores under various department schemes in District Headquarters Jagdalpur on the same day.Residential colony for 113 police personnel in village Adawal near Jagdalpur, built at the cost of nearly Rs8.50 crore, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister at 10.30 am.After this programme, Singh will attend the meeting to be held in Veer Sawarkar Bhavan from 11 am to 2 pm.In the afternoon around 2.40 pm, Dr Raman Singh will inaugurate and perform bhumi-pujan and lay foundation of 132 various construction works worth nearly Rs288 crore, at the massive public gathering to be organised at Hata ground. This includes, inauguration of 84 works worth nearly Rs48.43 crore and perform bhumi-pujan of 48 newly sanctioned works worth nearly Rs240 crore.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister will distribute goods worth nearly Rs10 crore to beneficiaries of various schemes. The works to be inaugurated on this day include hostel building of 100-seat capacity worth Rs2.23 crore and skill development building worth Rs81 lakh constructed in Block Headquarters Bakawand.Singh will also inaugurate community health centre building in Bastar village, Model School Building in Darbha village and anicut-cum-culvert on Markandey River.He will also inaugurate solar pumps installed at 28 places of the district, in a programme to be held in Jagdalpur.

The Chief Minister will perform bhumi-pujan and lay foundation of girls’ hostel building of 50-seat capacity for Government polytechnic institute, police station building approved in village Dhanpunji (Nagarnar), and transit hostels to be constructed in block headquarters Lohandiguda, Kilepal and Darbha.Singh will also lay foundation and do bhumi-pujan of girls’ hostel building worth one crore 93 lakh rupees for Government polytechnic institute Jagdalpur and village Nangur-Netanar-Kaleng Road to be built at the cost of Rs43.22 crore.

He will later lay foundation of police station building worth Rs2.91 crore in village Dhanpunji (Nagarnar).Singh will also distribute cheques to 500 women self-help groups under National Rural Livelihood Mission.Besides, he will also distribute cheques worth nearly Rs22.87 lakh to nearly 900 beneficiaries, under the schemes of Chhattisgarh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.The Chief Minister will also commence distribution of bicycles worth one crore 56 lakh rupees to nearly 5,500 school girls under Saraswati Bicycle Scheme.Notably, Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) has invested Rs400 crores during last 11 years in developing infrastructure for solar power generation which had resulted in 40 MW of electricity being generated from non-conventional energy sources.

The agency will be installing a total of 10,000 submersible and surface solar photo voltaic (SPV) irrigation pumps in farm lands soon across the State.The SPV Pumps shall be provided with lightening and over voltage protection. The principal aim in this protection is to reduce the over voltage to a tolerable value before it reaches the PV or other sub-systems components. The source of over voltage can be lightening or any other atmospheric disturbance, officials informed.Notably, the State Government has already commenced preparation for setting up 51,000 solar powered irrigation pumps in a span of two-and-half-years in the State.

The Government has set the target of setting up 11,000 solar pumps in the current financial year till March 2017 and the rest during the next two years.Notably, Chhattisgarh Government is planning to add 2,640 MW of additional renewable energy capacity by financial year 2018-19, officials informed.The State currently has total renewable energy potential of 4,500 MW which includes solar (grid connected and roof top), wind biomass and small hydro.The State has also planned to install solar powered pump sets for agriculture consumers which will benefit 16,000 consumers.It may be recalled that there are significantly more number of villages which are to be electrified in Chhattisgarh using the off-grid (solar) mode than the grid-based (conventional power supply) mode.

As per the latest data available with the Union Ministry of Power, a total of 543 villages have to be electrified under ‘off-grid’ mode compared to 101 through the conventional power supply grid as on May 31, 2016.The State will soon also launch a ‘Solar Community Irrigation Project’ for drawing water extracted using solar pumps for supplying to the agricultural land of farmers across the State.The pipeline extension project to be executed by CREDA would be undertaken shortly, officials informed.Chhattisgarh is planning to add 2640 MW of additional renewable energy capacity by financial year 2018-19, officials informed.

The State currently has total renewable energy potential of 4,500 MW which includes solar (grid connected and roof top), wind biomass and small hydro.The State has also planned to install solar powered pump sets for agriculture consumers which will benefit 16,000 consumers.It may be recalled that there are significantly more number of villages which are to be electrified in Chhattisgarh using the off-grid (solar) mode than the grid-based (conventional power supply) mode.As per the latest data available with the Union Ministry of Power, a total of 543 villages have to be electrified under ‘off-grid’ mode compared to 101 through the conventional power supply grid as on May 31, 2016.The State will soon also launch a ‘Solar Community Irrigation Project’ for drawing water extracted using solar pumps for supplying to the agricultural land of farmers across the State.